Life as I knew it
by Sh.Dvr
Summary: Bella's life was always easy, popularity in high school, parents that adored her, great college experience, friends that supported her every move. She never realised how unstable she was until she saw everyone around her getting hurt.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own none of the Twilight characters. I only writing this in my free time for own fun.

 **Note:** This story will contain language and mature content.

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"Bella? Are you in there?" vaguely whispered a voice. I groaned failing to put the blankets up on my body.

"Bella? Are you ok? I am gonna have to open the door, ok?"

After what seemed ages, I succeeded to open one eye at a time trying to put everything into places, the annoying knock on the door did not stop, I slowly recognised the voice of Eric, my landlord. My arm tapped on the coffee table looking for liquids, my dry mouth did not manage to tell him to shut the fuck up. What was so urgent?

"Bella? I hear noises, please open the door!" My arm missed the table and miserably fell on the floor making contact with water, my eyes slowly starting looking down, and my breath accelerated when my vision became clear, my slippers along with my rug floating under me, my whole living room had a second water carpet.

My body reacted on its own, I sat up my feet made a direct contact with the water causing me to curse.

"Bella?" Eric shouted one more time.

In a couple of seconds everything starting making sense, why was my landlord being so loud at this hour. Another curse skipped my mouth when I unlocked my iPhone, to check the time, 11:39pm. I slowly remembered, that Eric was not being annoying in the morning, he was here because I fell asleep before my nighttime bath, that I left running.

I quickly hid the joint that was on the table, no need for more lecture, I took my phone in one hand, lifted my pants with the other and made my way to the door.

"Thank god ! Are you alright? What in the fuck is going on" His eyes shifting between my face and the floor, slowly panic start showing on his face, my eyes followed his dark big eyes to understand his concern. My whole apartment was swimming, the small objects and clothes that were on the floor, were at that moment travelling the whole space floating. Eric's small body ran to the bathroom, cut off the water and came back to the living with a livid face.

"I cannot believe you ! What happened?"

"Eric … I feel terrible, I must have fell asleep before the tub was full - I swear I did not feel anything" I mumbled trying to make the most honest excuse I could come up with.

Eric lend me his apartment 2 years ago, when Kate, my ex roommate suddenly believed sharing apartment was a childish thing to do. We coincidentally met in the subway, After he saw me with my multiple boxes, and probably a desperate look on my face, he told me about his apartment and offered to show it to me the next hour. He was a modest mid thirty New Yorker, who also owned the bakery downstairs, we always got along, I teased him about his crush on our Australian neighbour, Jessica and he tried to be the big papa in my life, offering me breakfast and advice but in my 2 years living in this apartment, I never saw him red of rage, he was looking at me in disbelief, his hands twitching while his head was still looking at the floor and trying to comprehend the situation.

"Look, Eric, I can fix this. I cannot even begin to apologise …" I started in a low voice.

"… Bella" He cut me off with a hand in front of my face "Look around you ! You think this is gonna disappear with a mop? I came because it's dripping on my fucking kitchen" Trying to calm himself, Eric turned, making me face his back, breathing heavily for a couple of minutes before picking up his phone from his back pocket and dialling a number and disappearing in the hallway.

My eyes followed his footsteps before once again looking around me. I slowly made my way back to the couch, picked up my pack of cigarettes and lighter, I sat down and brought my feet up, protecting them from the water. I lit my cigarette and breath out a curse, it is not the first time I left the bath running before finishing up some chores, but in my mind a relaxing bath seemed like what I needed the most, so I made the genius idea of lighting up a joint before the bath to have the ultimate relaxing experience, little did I know that my new stuff was a bit harder than I thought which led me to rest my eyes before the bath.

"Well it looks like this would need professionals, I hope you have another place to ruin for a couple of days, because neither of us can stay here until the work is done" Said Eric cutting off my thought "This is by far the stupidest thing you have ever done, B" He added shaking his head then turn and left.

—

I put the last bag in the back seat of my jeep, I closed the door leaned on my car took my phone out of my pocket and dialled Jasper's number, I did not bother texting to see if he was awake, he was probably head stuck on some of his Xbox games.

"What's up?" He answered in the second ring

"Hey Jas, quick question, can I crash your couch for a couple of days?" I asked, while trying to put my long brown hair into a messy ponytail.

"You know if it was up to me you don't even have to ask, Bella, but this the time I would say you should not have fucked my brother while my sister in law was in the house, Charlotte is here and she probably won't like that very much" he apologised

"Fuck" I knew Jasper did not hold any judgement against me, but in that moment I highly judged myself for a minute. Jasper shared a condo with his older brother Peter, in Brooklyn. Whom I had a crush since the first day Jasper introduced us, he always flirted back when I was around before I made a move on him while Charlotte was busy preparing a homemade thanksgiving dinner, his relationship did not stop me and neither did he.

"What happened to your apartment? Your landlord finally got tired of your ass?" Jasper amusedly asked

"Well if he did not before, he sure does now" I sighed "I left the tub running, the whole place is ruined, I cannot stay there until it's fixed"

"You want to go somewhere? We can share a motel for a couple of days, I'm down" He suggested

I smiled, silently thanking the forces for having such a beautiful person in my life. I knew he would do it in a heartbeat, and that is the beauty of our friendship - No matter how big of a mess the other person is in, the other will jump in it. "You're an angel, Whitlock, who knew 7 years after freshman year, you would still stand me" I teased him.

We settled for a midnight drink, at the bar we usual hang out at, Em, one of our closest friends opened the place a couple of years ago, when he dropped out of NYU.

When I walked in the bar, Jasper was sitting in the bar stool, with an NYU sweater, his blonde hair was in a messy tiny bun, he had a recent beard of a couple of days that brought more of his texan charm.

Jasper's voice took me out of my thoughts, in the middle of a car debate with Emmet, he turned and gave the hugest smiles, opened his arms to welcome my hug without stopping his discussion. He kissed my forehead, rubbed my back, before putting a shot of whisky in front me. I adjusted in my seat, gave Emmet a fist bump.

I downed the shot while they were still debating on what car would win race in the stupid new British show. When the glass made the contact noise with the counter, they faced me both smiling. Emmet was the fluffiest and strongest guys I knew. His first and only year in college he shared a dorm room with Jasper, they quickly got along, when Jasper was busy focusing on making his grades worthy of law school, was where me and Emmet bonded more and more.

"Wow, Bee, looking fresh" Emmett joked, painting a stupid dimple on both sides of his mouth "J gave me update, you're welcome to stay up with me if needed" he added a bit concerned

"That's sweet of you Em, but with your size I do not think you fit another human being in your studio apartment" I replied after another shot "I know where I am going, I just needed another one of these" I added shaking my shot glass in front of my face.

Emmett nodded, poured some more alcohol in my glass before asking Jasper to take my car keys.

—

The elevator doors opened and the classical music hit my ears, I thought to myself how this whole fancy building suits Tanya perfectly. I only have been here for a couple of occasions, but I still blindly pushed the 7th floor button.

I remembered how excited she was during her housewarming party, the fancy people, the fancy wine, the fancy beautiful red dress she wore, I could not have been happier for her. Tanya and I grew up in a same small town right outside of New York, called Greenport, we have been friends since I remember going to school, even kids we were complete opposite but somehow that 5 years old girl became the mother / feminine figure I needed in my life.

She had her whole life planned, since the first grade, somehow she had a plan for me as well, that obviously was not followed after the chapter moving to the city.

The elevator doors opened once again, and I was facing the big white door, I ringed a couple of times before stating annoyingly knocking and silently praying she was home.

"What the fuck?"

"Bella? What the hell is going on?" She groaned, her hand on her hips, her beautiful blonde hair resting on her shoulders, she had smaller eyes due to sleeping and eye-liner free, she raised her perfectly shaved eyebrow in my direction

"There is an emergency in my apartment and I need a place to stay, just for a bit, you have my word" I said while making my way inside of her apartment, everything was as white as a remembered, there was a small light coming from the room. I pointed at the couch in the middle of her living "The couch will be fine"

"Bella ! It's 2 in the morning and are you drunk? it's Monday for God sake" she whispered following me

"Technically it's Tuesday" I whispered back "And why are whispering?"

She nervously closed her robe, put her hair behind her ear and rolled back her green eyes at me before whispering even lower "I am not alone, and before you ask, no you cannot meet him right now" She said crushing the stupid smile of my face.

"Get some sleep and we will talk about this tomorrow" she added pointed up and down at me, she turned making her way to her bedroom, before closing her bedroom doors she locked her eyes with mine and pointed her manicured finger at me "No smoking in here, B, I mean it"

I rolled my eyes knowing she would not see me, I took my pack of cigarettes and my perfume from my purse, If I could fool my dad growing up, I could easily fool my pretended mom / best friend. I made myself comfortable near the kitchen sink, opened the small window and lighted my cigarette before closing my eyes and concentrating my deep breaths.

"Hey" a hesitating voice made me jump, I threw immediately my cigarette out of the window and pressed on the perfume around the room before turning to face the door.

"It is not what you think" The words came out of my mouth before I could think. And since my mouth reacted before my brain, I took a second look. At the entrance of the Tanya's kitchen was standing a half naked man, letting his v line showing causing my breath to go faster, my eyes made their way back to his face, I let out another dumb 'wow' making him smile, his green eyes shyly looked down, his hand scratch the bank of his neck before trying to brush his messy bronze hair.

"I was just up for some water" He pointed to the fridge

"Did I wake you?"

"No ! but if you mean the knocking then yes" He smiled grabbing the filtered water from the fridge

I watched his muscles move as he poured water into a yellow mug, put back the water in the fridge took 3 different sips. He slowly put the mug in the dish washer.

"I am Bella, by the way"

"I know who you are"

I arched an eyebrow trying to process his words before, his eyes did look familiar, may be from every wet dream I had, I mean these are literally the eyes I make in my fantasy since I can remember… I gasped "Eddie? Eddie Cullen?"

"Edward actually, nice to see you again Bella"

"Holly molly, you look …" I looked for words to describe what I was looking at.

"Different? Yeah I hear it quite a lot…"

"…Hot !"

He stopped, his hands grabbed a chair next to him, his eyes that reminded me of my lab partner in high school avoided mine, he cleared his throat mumbling a thank you. I could not keep my eyes away from his face and body. Then I suddenly remember my lunch with Tanya when she told me she joined a secret group on Facebook where everyone from our high school reunited and she got in touch with some people, I also remember telling her that none of those loser were worth my time.

I was trying to remember the most of our encounters in high school, trying to picture if I was bitch to him. I frowned thinking the chances are high that I did not spare him the "I"m Isabelle Swan" treatment. I looked back at him, his eyes were checking me up and down, his tongue slowly licked his bottom lip, giving me all my confidence back, I arched my back bumping my cleavage and smiling at him. His eyes avoided mine quickly and cute blush spread on his face.

I was always advantaged physically, I never had to work hard to get someone, which made relationships to me worthless. I knew what I wanted and getting it was not that hard. However the hungry look on Eddie's face made me feel more attractive than I ever did in my entire life.

He then told me he was going back to bed. Before he opened the door I called him but he cut me off before I could say anything "I won't mention the smoking to Tanya" He smiled before disappearing in the dark.

I sighed loudly "Lucky bitch" referring to Tanya. I still had questions of how serious the two of them were and why didn't she tell me about this? I licked my lips thinking of our irrelevant moment in the kitchen. What's wrong with me? I was acting like a teenager who saw her crush and was making all kind of scenarios in my head. Tanya might have been right after all, may be I was drunk …


	2. Chapter 2 - Queen of the city

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing of Twilight. Just _still_ a fan.

 **Note:** I've decided to start putting one of the songs that seems appropriate to the chapters, the title per se does not explain it.

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 **Chapter 2 :** Queen of the city - Joshua James

I made one more walk around Rose's boutique, my hands were hesitating to touch anything, god knows how bitchy she can be. We met when I was working on a hotel renovation on 5th avenue, she supplied some of the furnitures I needed for it, and since then as any professional interior designer we exchanged contact. New York was a big city, full of potential for my profession, suppliers fought to have a commitment deal with us, to put their brand out there.

Rose's was far too proud to be a suck up for her boutique, that's when I knew, we will be stuck together.

I looked up she was signing a delivery, the young man took back the form, stumbled in front of her, apologised without making eye contact. I felt bad for him then smiled, that beautiful heart of hers sure hid well under that scary carapace. She flipped her gorgeous hair, seductively flashed a smile to the guy and shut her boutique's door.

"Coffee?" She asked.

I nodded "I'm gonna need something personal too, something that says 'Sorry for drowning your apartment'" I let myself fell on the chair in front of her desk. She put a mug of coffee next to me and pointed at a half plant half flower, that I learned was an _Azalea Bonsai_ , it looked girly, but I smiled thinking of Eric, it's gonna push his nerves. _In a funny way_

She was wrapping the plant into a beautiful white package. My eyes wondered around her desk, everything was no neat and organised. She took a seat in front of me, and warmed her hands holding the mug, her red polished nails tapped on it. We finished up going over the list of furnitures I needed, she noted the ones that needed to be delivered directly from the warehouse.

I told Rose, that I was gonna need more things soon, since my apartment was probably going to need a new look when it's fixed, that followed the story of my adventures of that night.

"So you were at Emmett's, huh?" She nonchalantly said typed on her keyboard avoiding my eye contact.

"That's all you got from my story?"

Emmett was head over heels when he saw Rose with me the first time, he made multiple moves but got turned down every single time, before he got tired of her playing hard to get and moved on. It was a taboo to talk about but I know she regrets it, but too damn proud to act on it.

She rolled her eyes at me "And also that you got the hots for you best friend new boy friend"

"Not true, we do not know if they are together!" I shrugged

She turned the chair to face me, deeply sighed and shook her head.

"He was totally checking me out" I added thinking it totally defended my thoughts.

"Bella .. Is it worth it? I can offer myself to go with you and help you pick up any guy at the bar"

"So nice of you, but if you want to come to Emmett's bar, you don't have to use me as excuse, you know that" I winked at her which got me the death glare.

"Why do you think Tanya didn't tell me about them? You think she doesn't trust me?" I wondered out loud

"Well not judging by your sexual thoughts towards the new guy, he might also be the one that is not trusted…"

I shivered remembering his eyes, his body, his voice … The whole thing was a mystery still. It has been two nights that I'm crashing at Tanya's couch. When I woke up the next morning the apartment was empty. Tanya was the senior editor of an online magazine, recently it had been booming which made her super busy. Over the two nights I have stayed over her place she canceled dinner twice. We shared the same air but definitely not the same schedules.

 _Edward did not come back either._

After multiple trials, I left Rose's boutique with a 'If I change my mind, I will meet you for one drink', it was a total polite no. She was stubborn to admit she wants to go after him and sad to actually see him indifferent to her.

Eric stood still for what seems like hours looking straight at me, I waved the plant with my best smile. I saw in his eyes that he lost his own war, my smile grew bigger and I made my way to give him a huge kiss on the cheek that he managed to swiped angrily.

"Sit down" He ordered me and put a beautiful frosted cupcake in front of me. I smiled seeing him adjusting the plant I just got him on his counter proudly.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I dipped my finger in the vanilla frosting before sucking my index moaning, _Eric was a fucking genius,_ my clean hand reached into my pocket and unlocked my phone.

 _90% I can make dinner tonight. You in? - T_

 _Down. In or out? - B_

 _Miss me some good Swan made dishes *sad emoji*- T_

I texted her back agreeing to cook tonight. I took my purse from the chair next to me, put back the trash in the bin. Eric told me the apartment should be done in a couple of days and he would call me when it's done.

Growing up me and my dad suffered from my mom super feminism, protesting that the kitchen should be a forbidden ground for the woman, and we had to practically learn every cooking book we could find.

Tanya came home a couple of minutes before the timer of the oven rang letting me know the veggie lasagna was ready.

I put up some plates around the kitchen table, Tanya kicked off her heels near the couch, letting out a small scream of happiness when her feet straightly touched the ground. She put her hair up into a messy ponytail. She gave me a kiss on the cheek, rubbed her two hands together in a universal sign of 'cannot wait'. She moaned after two first bites, she congratulated me, even if I knew my around the kitchen, compliments always gave me an extra boost

"So Edward Cullen, huh?" I let out looking down at my plate.

Her fork stopped in mid air near her mouth "You know about him?"

"Are you for real? He was here Monday night"

She opened her mouth, slowly nodding her tongue swirled around her teeth. She then smiled "Well then" and went back to her plate.

"Why didn't you tell me? why the secrecy" I pushed

"There is no secret, I wasn't aware I needed to let you know of my every hookup"

I opened my eyes "Hookup? Is that what you guys are?"

"Jeez Bella!" She dropped her fork loudly on the plate, clearly annoyed by my questions. But quite frankly I was the one annoyed, might be due to all the secrets, or might be that I slightly wished for something else.

She signed and closed her eyes, then slowly opened them her blue eyes stared into mine "We are getting to know each other, I guess? Not in a traditional way if you know what I mean" She smirked.

"I just do not have the time to think of 'The talk or what he is to me', I did not mean to hide it from you I swear, there are just other important things we talk about rather than my orgasms" She added.

"Orgasms? Wow … Who knew that Cullen had it in him"

"I know right?" We shared at laugh, before digging in our plates once more.

I did not know why I was so curious, may be I was feeling protective… Tanya did not fill her heads with man drama. Ever. She was always career focused, the only time she shared her time with a different gender was in college but once she got a C she freaked out blamed it on Eli and broke things off.

It was true, we never shared stories of random hookups unless it came with a story. However I do consider our former classmate turned into a total fox was a story to be shared. A little voice inside of me let me know that all of these worries might only be related to small jealousy. I was never jealous of Tanya, we grew up together and I know we only wanted what was best for each other, there was no competition we had different hobbies, different types of men, different lives in general.

Tanya rinsed the dishes before placing them into the dishwasher. I stood in my chair looking at her, she was what the media let you believe what the true beauty, thin, blonde, creamy skin, her face was the closest thing to a barbie doll face. She smiled when she caught me looking at her, her hand caressed my brown hair, thanking me for dinner.

There was absolutely nothing that could make me jealous of her, I pushed away the awful feeling and went to get ready to meet Jasper.

I stood outside to Emmett's bar, my left hand looked for a lighter in my coat pockets. I dabbed frustratedly failing to make contact with it.

A lighted up lighter appeared next to me, inviting me to light up the cigarette that was hanging from my mouth. I looked up at Jasper crooked smile.

"You're late" I let out.

"First round on me" He apologised, putting an arm around my shoulders.

"McCarthy, two beers" Jasper shouted as soon as he pushed the bar doors. Emmett looked up, gave us a genuine big smile. He opened two bottles of beer in the corner of the bar, before putting them in front of two empty stools.

I made my way through the bar, there was a red head bending over the bar, giving Emmett a view of her cleavage, she kept tilting her head from one side to another, laughing loudly at everything Emmett does. She turned to our direction, when I sat down. Her yes grew bigger when she saw Jasper next to me. She watched him lift himself on the stool and drink from his beer, she bit the side of her bottom lip, begging him silently to notice her.

I laughed at Emmett disbelief face. Jasper was a pretty face, he made heads turn his way everywhere he went.

"He's with me, sweetheart" I said, gently poking on her shoulder.

She looked at me with disappointment, then brought her attention to Emmett, who was nonetheless thrilled to have her back.

"These kind of situations make me feel better about our 35 years old deal. At least I know my kids will be pretty" I joked turning to look a Jasper.

"Like you needed people to remind you that I was a catch, you'll be lucky if no one locks you up and you end up with me" He teased me, getting another sip of his beer.

A lot of people in college thought me and Jasper had a thing. A drunken night led us to talk about the rumour, we ended up laughing and made a deal to get together at 35 if neither of us got a half, until then we will give the world a chance of having us available.

Jasper and I went from one topic to the other sharing laughs and more beers. It was so easy being around him. A couple of beers later, I felt my phone vibrated through my purse, I took it out only to notice it was my work phone. The code said it was coming from NYC, I looked at the watch and decided to ignore the call. 11PM was a late hour for any sort of emergency.

I raised my hand calling Emmett's attention who was still in deep conversation with the red head. He blindly put another beer in front of me and went back to charm his next one night stand. Another vibrating sound came from my purse, I heavily breathed out and took the phone out, this time it was my personal phone.

"Hello?"

"Bella? This is Edward. Edward Cullen" His voice was so deep and hesitant.

I froze for a minute, Jasper questioned me with his eyes. A smile formed on my face, my unoccupied hand rested on my collarbone.

"Well, hi there" was the only thing I could think of

I heard his breathing from the other side of the line "Sorry to call you on this cell, Tanya gave it to me. Your work phone let me with no answer"

"You've been tracking me down, huh?"

"Hum…"He hesitated mumbling some stuff I could comprehend over the phone "I actually have a work proposal for you, I thought a phone call would be more appropriate than email. I'm sorry if …"

"… Relax Eddie" I teased him using the nickname. Jasper looked at me with an amused expression. I knew then I was using my flirting voice, I cleared my throat and looked away from him.

"So what kind of work proposal is so urgent that has to be made at this hour?"

"Shit … I'm so sorry Bella, I did not see the time. I'm still in the office." He replied " I sometimes forget the notion of time, but that is just me"

I smiled picturing him rubbing the back of his neck nervously like he did in the kitchen that night.

"How about we set an appointment in my office, normal work hours?" He proposed

"Sounds good. Is Friday alright?"

"Friday might work, afternoon?"

"It's a date" I agreed.

His voice again rumbled, i laughed, he probably took the word date literally. We hanged after confirming the hour. I put the phone back in my purse. Took my beer, and questioned Jasper why he was looking at me.

"You're smiling like that chick next to you" He replied.

I didn't know if I should look more into his phone call, or if it was purely work like he said, after all Tanya was the one who gave him my number. But the amount of beer in my system let me to whisper _fuck it_

* * *

 _First chapters are going slow, I want first to settle around the world and the characters.  
Also I will be posting every 5 days, the story is made just working on transitions._


	3. Chapter 3 - Fall for you - LJ

**Disclaimer:** The whole Twilight universe ain't mine.

 **Note:** Thanks to those who reviewed, followed, favorited and read!

* * *

 **Chapter 3:** Fall for you - Leela James

Early March was alway one of the coldest in my opinion. The mind is so settled on the upcoming spring that even similar winter temperatures seemed colder. I personally paid more attention to the breath that came out from my mouth or nose when I breathed heavily or when I exhaled my cigarettes.

However there was something about this season that made me happier, days like that day made me smile, a clear blue sky and sun shining without getting its heat just made being outside bearable and enjoyable as it lasts.

A cold breeze hit, blowing up slightly my skirt and my hair. I immediately tucked my skirt before anyone notices, the wind made me shiver but I was still convinced I looked nice, with my black skirt and matching sweater. As much as I wanted to dress up nicely sometimes the cold weather took over, that's another reason why I liked these days.

I looked down at my phone's GPS trying to locate myself. Edward had texted me the address of his office right after our call that night. His message was sharp and formal. No emojis no extra dot …

 _1068 Park av._

 _The reception will show you to me._

The arrow finally got to the red pin indicating that I got there, I silently thanked my responsible side to take a couple of minutes early, I always get lost in Manhattan, it made me nervous since the day I can remember.

I locked my phone and put it back in my purse, took a deep breath and I smiled to the man in a suit in front of the door. He almost did not even look at me and silently pushed the building glass doors to let me in.

My heels made the echo the second the doors closed behind me. The lobby was huge and all marble, the reception was in the middle, two ladies that sat there smiled at me. I took one more look around the space, and walking in their direction. My heels kept making that annoying sound and I was so tempted to tip toe to them.

"Good afternoon, how can we help you" I decide to ignore the fake smile she gave me, she must be doing this all day… _TGIF, bitch._

"I have an appointment, Edward Cullen?"

"May ask which firm?" The blonde one asked me, the stupid smile still on her face, I imaged the small wrinkles she might have she's not doing this clown face. Before I could answer the brunette next to her nearly jumped out of her seat.

"Volturi finances" She said excited. A smile that the blonde did not fail to return. She looked back at me and directed me to the elevators.

I pressed the button on the elevator once inside. The door closed, and I faced the mirror. I pushed my bra to the sides, I adjusted my skirt once more. With one hand I put the majority of my brown hair to the left side, pressed my lips together and thanked Rose for her latest _Resistant_ lipstick. A beep alerted me that I got to my destination.

Edward in his text message said the reception would lead me to him. I found myself outside of the elevator trying to decide between left of right there was no directions and unlike he said no reception. _I wish I had a smoke before to calm my nerves._

I decided to do the old fashion way, and find a soul in this deserted office to ask. A couple of minutes afterwards, a mid aged man came to my rescue, he was surprised to be stopped in the middle of a hallway but right after I gave him my best smile he told me around the corner I should find his assistant office. His name would be on the door and I wouldn't miss it.

Like the man said, after a couple of turns I faced a squared cubicle in front of a door where I read _Edward Cullen, business associate._ I was impressed, I mean Edward was my age or a year older tops.

I looked at the watch in front of me, I was 3 minutes late. But there was no assistant, the cubicle was empty. The computer and the purse next to it clearly sent the message that his assistant was still around but not here. I decided I was not going to wait around and I should probably just knock on his office directly. _Nothing could go wrong …_

I approached the door and when I put my fist up to knock on the door I heard a woman shouting " _This isn't fucking high school, Edward"._ I brought my fist back near my chest, I was not so sure if I should interrupt what was going on.

The door of his office opened widely and I was facing a short haired woman. Her black eyes were big and I had the impression they grew bigger when she saw me, may be because she realised I heard her anger through the door. Her hair was darker than mine but shorter, she was all short. She was wearing heels double the size of mine but I still looked down when I stared at her.

She did not stop long and walked out, her shoulder roughly hit my arm. She took the purse that was near the computer and stormed out. _Was she just fired?_

I stopped following her with my eyes and turned to the still open door. I walked quietly, and faced the image of Edward on his desk chair. He was slightly leaning back his long fingers held the top of his nose, his eyes were closed. I knocked on the wooden door before closing it.

Edward opened his eyes and jumped from his seat when he saw me.

"Sorry, your assistant left the door open and I thought it was okay to come in" I explained since clearly he was aware of my presence. For a second I got nervous and thought he forgot about our appointment.

"Bella…" He breathed out. "Don't apologise, I am sorry for Alice"

"Alice?"

"Yes, Alice my assistant. Also goes by my sister" He rolled his eyes.

"I didn't know you had a sister" I said walking towards his desk.

"Oh, I thought you would remember her. She went to high school with us"

"Sorry, I'm not so good with faces" I felt terrible, she did not look charming but I felt like a jerk not remembering his sister.

He invited me to take a seat in front of him. His office was big, he had a huge desk but very simple, only a computer in front of him and a couple of file to his left. On the other side of the room, there was a big couch facing a big glass window.

"Well at least you remembered me" He chuckled bringing my attention to his face.

"You have eyes that no one can forget" I smiled crossing my legs.

He smiled as a light blush covered his cheeks. He cleared his throat and closed down his computer. His hand stayed on top of his laptop his eyes fixed to mine.

"Thank you for coming, and I'm sorry again for the welcome" I raised my hand for him not to worry, I didn't need a bunch of protocol.

"So what is it you think I do, and what is your work proposal" I smiled at him, he looked down shyly. _Cute_

"Tanya spoke highly of your work, she's very proud of what you did to her place. I happen to be in need of a interior designer myself. We have just located this office and your touch sounds like exactly what I'd need" He said the last part with a deep voice without leaving my eyes.

"So you would hire me for your office?"

"And my house" He added quickly.

"It looks like you did not do your homework correctly, Mr Cullen. I specialise in hotels and restaurants" I saw the disappointment in his eyes, they looked for an answer which made me smile "But a Swan never backs out from a challenge. I work with my own conditions though"

"Name them"

"First, I do my work through my lawyer, he will contact you with the a contract and negotiation, I don't like mixing business with pleasure" I winked and he blushed. _Even cuter…_

"Second, I only do personal spaces of my families and friends, because I know them well enough to adapt their space to them. So when the paperwork are done I would require to help me out, you can show me a piece of furniture, something personal, anything I can inspire from" He nodded with a grin.

"Third, I am not cheap" I finished putting my weight on my elbow against the arm chair.

"I wasn't expecting you to" He handed me his hand for a verbal commitment.

He stood up, closing the button on his suit and walked toward the small table near the couch. He poured two glasses of what looks like good scotch into 2 glasses. He turned to me and handed me one and arched an eyebrow.

"Let's toast to it?"

"It's 5pm, is it appropriate during office hours?" I said nonetheless walking up to him.

"It's happy hour Friday, everyone leaves and meets up at 4:00pm"

"And yet you're still here" I pointed out taking the glass from his right hand.

"I got everything I need to make more than a happy hour right here" His glass met mine, he put his glass up and we cheered.

While he took a sip our eyes locked, his gaze traced my face. I was again feeling the same feeling in the kitchen, I felt like the most attractive person on Manhattan. I walked past him and sat down on the leather couch. I crossed my legs together, showing more of my skin, his eyes immediately looked down of where my skirt stood then.

I put my glass on the table in front of me, my fingers touched the wood and immediately recognised it. I fell in love with this model when I first saw it with Rose. My eyes did not stop and kept looking around me, the lamp, the table and the rug they were all in the catalogue. _On the latest catalogue._

 _"_ Edward? Why is the real reason you called me in? A big firm like yours don't usually have an address book for external services?"

"Bella you have your conditions I have mine, I need to work with people I trust" He calmly responding taking a seat next me.

I opened my mouth for a second argument. His office under my professional eye clearly looks like it has _just_ been done. Which means he was not in the need of an interior designer, perhaps only in the need of me. The unreasonable Bella inside of my head clearly just have won the battle that was going, I did not try to understand why did Edward called me or hire me, instead I took another sip of my drink and smiled at him"

"So do you usually go back often to GreenPort?" He changed the subject.

"I do, my parents are hilarious growing old and enjoy being with them a lot, so I drive there every once in a while"

"I thought your parents were divorced"

"Oh they are, but they never stopped being together. My mom had an extreme feminist path and for some reason she believed a feminist should be independent and never get married so she filed for divorce. She's the coolest!" I laughed.

But my mom had her reasons, my dad finally gave up and gave her what she wanted, his words filled my heart with love _When you love someone, you wouldn't hesitate doing the most unorthodox things to make them happy, I knew that the minute I arrested your mother._ A cop who fell in love with the woman he arrested for trespassing, long but oscar worthy story.

Truth is Renee, my mom was different from all the country club mom that cared about fake charity and making their kids look good on paper, instead she use everything to give all the love she could to me, dad and Tanya, whose mom was no other than the country club women.

She raised me in such an open relationship that I was never anyone but my true self under her roof.

Edward and I continue sharing stories from the same hometown as we kept refilling our drinks. If someone would hear us, they would never guess we had grown up in the same city and same school. We had different routines and different lifestyles. I could believe that we went all our childhood with nothing more than chemistry class together.

Edward told me that after his sister graduated, two years after us, his parents moves and bought a house in the Hamptons. So he actually never went back to GreenPort, and he lost contact everyone until the Facebook group was created.

"Wait what about Angela from the Library?" He asked for the 10th try to see if we actually had the same person in our friendly cycle.

"Weber? Does it count if I only hang out with her after graduation?"

"Count as a win" He raised his arm in the air "How's she doing? I haven't seen her since senior year" He then asked.

"Oh she's great, I saw her during Thanksgiving break, went back to her for a check up"

"She's a doctor?" He raised an eyebrow and i burst out of laughter

"She's a tattoo artist" I said in between laughs, Edward's eye grew from disbelief

"No way! hold up are we talking about Angela Weber from the library?"

"Well no more library but yeah ! She has magic hands"

Edward leaned on the couch his eyebrows still raised, obviously trying to picture the shy Angela as a tattoo artist.

"So I understand you a have a tattoo?" He turned his head to look at me

"Tattoos." i corrected.

I then straighten my arm so he could see my wrist tattoo "Birds, because my mom taught me to never stop flying", turned slightly and pulled my hair up so he could see the one on my neck "Deer horns, because it's my spirit animal", then I took my heel off with my hand and put it on his thigh to show him my ankle tattoo "An anchor, because I am one of the few who loves GreenPort" I grinned.

My smile disappeared and my breathing accelerate when I saw that Edward had put his hand on my ankle just under my tattoo and still hasn't removed it. His thumb was slowly caressing my skin surrounding the anchor, then his eyes met mine and I added whispering "Then I have a back one that I only show when I have sex"

Unlike me his breathing stopped. His eyes darkened still fixed on mine. His hand moved up in the beginning of my legs. I knew at that exact moment that he was imagining my own words in action, he was imagining to see my back tattoo in a whole different position. I licked my lips.

His hands were softly but then again roughly grabbing and caressing the skin of my leg. Then I realised that his body was so close to mine, I could feel his breath and his cologne. My cheeks were burning, and I knew the scotch had nothing to do with it, it was his proximity. His eyes had left mine, and were looking down at my lips, back at my eyes.

"I should go" I whispered, this time my eyes fixed on his lips.

He nodded but his hand never moved. I moved my foot away and put back my heel. We stood up at the same time, and we now avoided eye contact. My heels were again the only sound on the room as I took my purse that was still on his desk.

I turned and smiled at him, he was watching me closely and his gaze didn't change even when I caught him. Instead he walked before me to the door and opened it.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you Bella"

"All mine"

I stood on my toes and put a kiss on his cheek. My body was pressed against his, from my thighs until my chest, he could feel everything. _And so could I._

I stayed still for a couple of seconds, my lips on his cheek. And then I move away, I watched my hands rested on his chest.

Without another look I turned my heels and walked away.

—

"Jasper, you seem like an educated guy, you go to med school right? Tell Bella that she's being stupid" Rose shouted over the music at Jasper, but staring at me.

I took a cab in front of Edward's office right away. Once inside I looked up the building hoping to meet the green of his eyes one more time. The taxi driver kept checking in on me through his review mirror, asking if I was fine. I probably looked confused and red as a tomato.

I had plans like any other Friday, Emmett goes all in and his bar gets crowded and turned into a mini club. Fridays were also the only day Rose joins me at the bar, since it gets full of people, with the music and the lights she avoids Emmett all night.

Jasper as always was waiting for me in the same place we always took, he had already started his weekend drinking when I got there. I caught up with him as we drank shot after shot. It didn't take me long to get slightly drunk after all the scotch I sipped before.

When Rose joined us I was already shouting to them what happened with Edward earlier that day, in the alcohol in my system didn't hold any detail. Rose kept showing her disapproval while Jasper kept smirking and drinking.

"Law school" Jasper corrected Rose, to which she rolled her eyes "And if you ask me I think Bella is grown up enough to know what she's doing, right Bee?" He added massaging my shoulder with his hand.

"Damn right !"

"Whatever, I think you just speed dial a hook up and get this horniness out of your body" Rose mumbled.

Jasper excused himself to the bathroom, and left me facing Rose who was still trying to convince me that any guy in the bar could take me home and make me forget all about Edward. The idea was tempting, I could follow her advice forget about what happened today or how irrevocably attracted I was to him.

"Why don't you just fuck Blondie" She suggested her head pointing to the empty seat on my right.

"Jasper? Are you out of your mind"

"Why so surprised? You're lusting over your best friend boyfriend but hooking up with Jasper is such a bad idea?" She asked, taking a sip of her drink.

"First of all they are not together, so he's not labelled as 'The boyfriend', second of all Jasper is the closest thing I have to a brother I'm not going to throw that away"

"Funny how his friendship means more to you than others. And please a brother? He would jump on you the first minute he knows you're up for it"

I chose to ignore her first comment, Jasper friendship did mean a lot to me. From the minute we met at NYU he was always next to me for four years straight, after graduation if it was even possible we got even closer. I don't think I went a day without seeing him.

Jasper came back, climbed to his stool another time, taking me away from my thoughts which was liberating, I knew if i kept thinking about it I will be paranoid like Rose wanted me to be.

"Jasper, Bella thinks that you never think of her differently that in a brotherly way" Rose's word widened my eyes, I noticed Jasper freezing next to me, nothing moved except his Adam's apple.

I looked at Rose mortified "Cut the shit Rose"

A couple of second later a girl made her way to Jasper, her hands kept touching his forearm while she spoke in his ear. Jasper only smiled and turned to her, without a word. We watched him following the girl, hand in hand and entering the bathroom. _That's a first …_

Rose and I kept on drinking, shot after shot. Her eyes turned red and her bitch face disappear to a giggly one. I convinced her that Edward was not a big of deal, she agreed as long as I agree that Jasper could be my speed dial hook up. She dropped my life story when she noticed Emmett flirting with girls at the bar, she growled downing her drink. Her eyes did not leave his body, she was watching him closely as he felt her stare, Emmett turned to look at her, they kept a long stare before he turned back to the ladies that were begging for his attention.

She then rose from her chair, downed another drink and told me she was going home. I screamed her name for her to wait for me. I saw Emmett glancing at the door, ignoring the girls this time. He looked back at me with a sad face, and I shrugged.

I downed the drink in front of me, blew a kiss to Emmett and ran after Rose. I got out of the bar and starting putting my coat, my eyes looking for Rose's blonde hair. I found her near the road looking left and right for a cab. I took my pack of cigarettes out of my coat took one out and offered the pack to Rose when I got next to her. She looked at me and took one smiling. I helped her light her cigarette before doing the same to mine. We both inhaled without saying a word.

I was watching Rose as she smoked her cigarette, her head never looked down at me. Her eyes were red but she was blocking the tears.

"Fuck, this is so stupid" she laughed ironically.

A tear left her right eye and she quickly whipped it off trying to mask it. I put my arm around hers and lean my head against her shoulder. As I know Rose she must have been feeling sad and angry at the same time for showing her weakness. I stood there without saying a word, leaving her the choice to open up. `

A taxi stopped in front of us, she threw the cigarette on the floor looked at me with a sad smile.

"Please don't mention this to him" She gave me a kiss on the cheek and hopped on the cab.

I smoked my cigarette as I watched the yellow taxi take my friend away, a friend I couldn't help, I didn't know if by helping her I would actually make things worse for her.

I felt a presence next to me, I turned to see Jasper staring at the same empty street where the taxi had left. He didn't ask any question, he probably understood right away. A couple of minutes later Jasper asked me if I wanted to go home, I nodded.

Our drive to Tanya's place was as quiet as our waiting time was, not even a single word was shared. We just stood there in the cold, breathing and avoid eye contact. This was the first time I knew Jasper hooked up, I knew he was sexually active but somehow he never showed any in front of me, he was even a prude in front of me with his college girlfriend. He always rejected women when I was there, he never hit one in front of me either.

And it bothered me.

Jasper took his wallet out before I could reach mine, I didn't try to battle with him instead I went out of the cab and slammed the door. The taxi driver cursed at me and Jasper apologised as he exited from his side too. We walked towards Tanya's building together again in the complete silence.

When we got to the door we were forced to look at each other, he looked at me shyly also confused about how to act in these situations I guess.

"Why did you do that?" Slipped my mouth before I could think

"I wanted to prove Rose wrong" He shrugged honestly.

"You don't have to do that, you don't have to prove anything"

"I do, or at least to myself" He looked down.

"Jas" I whispered

He shook his head not wanting me to continue my sentence, quite frankly I did not even know what my sentence was. But the tone in my voice was clear, I wasn't prepare for this. I wasn't sure if the alcohol was making me see his vulnerable eyes or I was really about to break his heart.

That thought made me sick, my stomach twisted and I felt my eyes starting to water. Jasper kept avoid my eyes which made me feel even shittier, I couldn't explain what I was feeling, a mix between sadness and guilt rushed through my body and I did the only thing I thought was going to fix it.

I kissed him.

* * *

 _Probably not the twist hoped for but getting there. I promise._


	4. Chapter 4 - Free me - JS

**Disclaimer:** SM is the boss.

 **Author:** Went over the deadline I put for myself. Sorry. I started a new job and this chapter wasn't the easiest for me to write, I wrote more into the future and the transition was harder that I thought

* * *

 **Chapter 4:** Free me - Joss Stone

I cursed pushing what was then the used filter of my cigarette into the ashtray. I tucked my chin deeper into my scarf, it was one of the few times I wish I didn't need to cure my hangover with a cigarette and be able to enjoy just a coffee inside like normal people.

I had just order a large coffee and finished my cigarette when I saw Jasper appearing a few blocks in front of me, his eyes landed on me and he smiled, I returned his as I watched him walk bit faster towards me.

The waitress came back put the take away cup of coffee in front of me, I brought it too quickly to my lips, groaned after taking the first sip, without a word to her, It was too early, and I was too hangover to even think. My head was pouring, like my brain was slowing trying to reach out through my ears. I missed the days where I would wake up after a college party and a cup of water will do it, now my hangovers lasts the whole weekend.

Jasper sat down and smiled once more, he turned his head and waved to the waitress. I was watching his face closely. His nose was reddish from the cold of this Saturday morning, his blue eyes were glassier than usual, his lips however even with the cold were still soft and pink.

An awkward silence settled after the waitress left I looked at him and smiled letting him know that under my sunglasses I'm looking at him. I wished that morning when I got his text asking if I was awake that last night has been only a dream or a drunk hallucination.

 _"Let's talk about this tomorrow, when we're fresh not with a whole bar in our system" His hands on my arms, his eyes looking for mine._

 _My eyes were fixed on his shoes, I was flushed. I read it all wrong._

"So Rose was right" I stated looking for his eyes

He shook his head "Rose thinks like any other male I just wanna get you in bed"

"So what it is it?"

He shrugged. And then a long pause.

I looked around me, nobody was sitting in the terrace of that cafe, I'm absolutely sure that the waitress hated my guts, since I was the only reason the cold hit her face every time we raised our hands calling for her.

I didn't know what kind of awkwardness that was, I wasn't afraid of what he was trying to say, I wasn't afraid of him avoiding my eyes. I was mostly afraid of whenever I look at his face my stomach tingled.

 _My lips locked to his, for a second I froze before bringing my hand to the back of his neck pushing him more to me and starting kissing him. I was battling alone before he gave in, his hands grabbed my hips and kissed me back. His tongue tasted like liquor, he was so warm, and his kiss was so soft although his hands were grabbing my hips hard._

 _I let out one moan and he pushed me away. His hands still on my hips, he looked at me with shock "No, not like this"_

"Look I'm not some kind of martyr who has been suffering years in his shell" He suddenly said

"Then why didn't you say something?"

"Because I'm not sure what I feel, and I wasn't going to ruin or freak you out with confusion. I don't know what love is, and I cannot tell you that this is it, I have episodes where I think we will be good together, but i don't even know if I wanna be together with anyone, or if we will be good for each other"

"So you like the idea of me?" I pushed.

"I honestly don't know. I never dealt with something similar, I just promised to myself that until I was sure enough of what this is, I wouldn't tell you"

My hands went to my face, I rubbed my thumbs on my forehead. I had so many questions, thinking of which one to ask weighted on my hangover even more.

I looked at his face, his blue eyes were lighter in the day light and his gaze was sad. I remembered the first day we met, his smiles and laughters and how we immediately got along. I remembered all the parties, the late nights, the coffees and drinks. I remembered the beautiful person he was, how he always stood by me and been there for me.

"Stop that" I raised an eyebrow at his remark "Don't overanalyse this … I mean there is nothing to freak out about" He added.

I opened my mouth to disagree, was this not a big deal? Then it hit me, he was right, I was overanalysing, I was _so_ on protecting our friendship that at that moment I was slowly looking for tiny details to see the bad in it.

Jasper was not on one knee asking me to marry him, he didn't even know what he was feeling and I was nobody to pressure him to find out or make it even harder by being awkward.

 _This was Jasper, my Jasper and we can deal with anything._

"Are we ok?" He asked, his eyes full of fear blinking at me.

I moved my arms from my laps and hold his hands, a small smile slowly formed on his lips. I removed my sunglasses to put them on my head and gave him a big smile.

"You know I can't hold anything against a good kisser" I winked at him, before sharing a laugh with him.

The awkwardness slowly moving away with the wind.

We stayed some more time in the cafe, ordering more coffee for the bad sake of the waitress who kept looking madly at us.

Rose called a couple of days later to let me know of a date, with a shocked face I wished her good luck, she never in the years we've known each other told me something similar even the game with Emmett I had to learn from him, so I knew that was her way of telling me the crisis of Friday night was a drunken one. I let it pass…

Jasper's mid finals had the worst timing ever, a couple of days after our little scene he disappeared like he always does in his exam period. However I took it badly this time, I didn't know if the mid finals were the true reason or was he low key ignoring my existence.

The little insecurity inside of me took over. He was a straight As students, when the exam period comes along he turns into a cute nerd, I just wished it come later until I have solid proof that he's still the same

I received one text from him _'I miss you too'_ after I tagged him on thousands of instagram post. _It made me smile_

Tanya for the first time since ever was not at work, for my bad sake she was bitching about the 'mess that used to be her beautiful living room', she started picking up my clothes and folding them before she started shoving them in files on top of my bags, finally at the end she just gave up and cursed narrowing her eyes at me every time she stepped on something.

I offered to roll her a perfect joint to relax her nerves, she responding with horrific expression.

"Or would you rather pick something from your medicine cabinet" I said nonchalantly eyes fixed on the tv.

I could feel her tense on my side, her mouth opened once or twice. She probably thought her collection of little orange bottles spot wasn't too obvious.

I looked at her and raised my eyebrows still expecting an answer.

"I'm not commenting when you sip bottles of wines for breakfast" She attacked. _Wine? Worst metaphor ever._

"Touché"

We turned back to the tv, she finally let the whole mess drama go. We were ghost watching one police tv show after another. I never actually followed any of the plot, but it was peaceful.

"By the way, thank you for putting in a good word for me with Edward"

She hummed in response, I looked at her, her eyes were still on the tv. I was dying to ask her if they were still seeing each other, if she has heard from him and if we could talk about it.

I didn't realise I was still looking at her until she excused herself to the bathroom. I wanted to ask her if she was okay with it, but the possibility of her saying yes scared me. So I did not.

My phone buzzed on the glass coffee table lighting up the dark living room. I reached out for it and a sudden warm feeling took place, I saw it a text image from Edward.

I opened the message only to see a photo of a girl with her back covered in a huge gothic tattoo. I frowned typing a question mark before I received another text message

' _Is this what your mystery tattoo looks like?"_

I laughed at his dorky attempt of texting before replying

" _Got you intrigued, didn't it?"_

 _"Never been this creative"_

I smiled the blush clearly still on my cheeks. I put my phone down next to me and focused my attention back on the show. I looked at my phone, once, twice and picked it up at the third time. I tapped on the phone case thinking to topics to start a conversation, and laughed at how childish I felt.

" _Now, I'm afraid to disappoint"_ I texted back

" _Does that mean i'll be seeing it?"_ His reply came quickly and my face burn harder.

He was totally flirting.

"T ! You will be the worst cop ever, it was totally the brother" I shouted when the brother was arrested the killer.

A flush later, Tanya came back to the living shaking her head, still defending that her theory made more sense that the show's. She let herself down on an arm chair near the sofa and smiled at the scene where they opened up a champagne bottle.

"Man, it's been forever since I went out" She said nostalgically

"Well let's" I cheerfully stood up from the sofa clapping my hands.

She looked up and shook her head smiling.

"Come on T, when was the last time you had fun? When was the last time we went out together?"

"Bella, it's Thursday…"

"And your point is? It's not like you actually have weekends" I pulled on her arm.

She rolled her eyes and pulled her arm back on her leg "Jasper is mad at you or something? Is that why you're insisting this much?"

"I miss us." I kneeled down levelling her gaze, I gave her my best charming smile and when she heavily sighed and clapped my hands together.

"But far away from your hipster bars, and we're dressing up" She let out before closing her bedroom door.

I was secretly happy, I didn't have plenty of opportunities to dress up for a girls night, since well Jasper wasn't one and Rose hated all the fuss of it.

The bar was exactly what I would imagine Tanya choosing. Typical Manhattan places were exactly her scene, the bar was dark and lighted up with candles, waiters were wearing nice shirts with bowties. I smiled at all of them imagining Emmett with one of those. The table we were directed to had two leather arm chairs, and some candles.

It turns out Tanya needed a couple of Martinis to completely relax, she kept flashing her hair and free drinks kept on coming, she found that funny and flattering. I tried to recall the last time we hang out in a bar but all the flashbacks were about a serious talk or rushed one. It felt nice.

The third Martini imposed a bathroom break for me. When I stood up, Tanya was ordering some more drinks, I giggled, adjusted my dress and looked for the ladies room.

After washing my hands, I adjusted my dress once again, choosing cleavage over showing my ass to the world. I've put on my lipsticks and opened the door heading back to my table.

My heart nearly stopped when I saw _him,_ leaning on the wall in front of the ladies room door.

The sound of the door closing behind me alerted him and he stood straight and smiled at me "If I didn't know better I'd say you were stalking me"

 _"_ You mean romantically like those new chick movies?" He smiled and my heart stopped "I'm here for my friend's birthday, you passed by us and I had to say hello"

"Hello, then" I grinned putting my hair behind my ears "So is this like the new Upper east side people meeting place?"

"I never pictured you for a Upper east side person or wanna be person"

"Fuck no ! I mean no offence but this is not the type of places I choose for my nights outs" He raised an eyebrow at me silently asking for more explanations "Tanya brought me here"

"Oh Tanya is here?"

"That's what I just said" I smiled.

I wasn't sure if he felt awkward, scared of indifferent to that new information. I could't read his expression. Also since I didn't have the courage to ask Tanya about them two, I wasn't sure if this wasn't awkward for me too.

"What don't you join us? You and Tanya of course" He offered

I suddenly felt fear, fear of them seeing each other and being all over each other, they did like each other, or still do … They found each other once, and possibly still have each other. I was tempted to decline and making up an excuse and never mentioning this to Tanya, but his green eyes were so intense and I didn't want to leave them so I nodded.

Tanya and Edward hugged like they haven't seen each other for a while, their proximity and their smiles made me so uncomfortable but then he directed us to their table with his hand went to _my_ lower back.

Garrett, the birthday boy was in the center of their table and who I learned to be his girlfriend Kate on his side. They were typical cute couple, that you felt jealous of and nauseous at the same time. They were quite friendly, they both gave us hugs like we haven't just met, or may be they were drunk huggers, either way they were friendly. Edward continued introducing us to his friends, Garrett's sister Irina that could easily pass for Tanya stunt double, Liam and Stephan were psyched about having two more girls joining the table.

"And you remember my sister, Alice" He finished with a smile.

His hand still on my back, something that Alice didn't fail to notice, when Edward said her name we turned to look at her and her eyes quickly went from my back to our faces. She smiled at Tanya …

We sat down, all around one table, Tanya at my left and Edward at my right. His hand sadly left my back, but since he was sitting so close, his knee was touching mine, something that could pass unintentionally if he didn't put some pressure on it.

Conversation flowed from one person to the other, even when they spoke about some inside stories or jokes, Edward or Liam would turn and summed it up for me and Tanya, we would laugh a couple of seconds later but we felt welcomed.

"So how did you guys meet" Liam asked referring to us and Edward.

"We all went to the same high school just outside of NYC, and we got in touch a couple of weeks ago with Edward" Tanya replied looking and smiling at us.

"Awesome" Liam said with a huge smile

"What's awesome is that Bella thinks we are finally worthy of her time" Alice snapped.

Her voice wiped out all our smiles, we all looked at her, and her face was full of anger, one eyebrow crooked at me, like she was challenging me.

"Alice" Edward groaned.

Everyone was quiet, I looked back at her but her expression was the same. I looked at Tanya looking for answers but she was looking down.

"Bella, queen B of high school. Coolest plot ever ! Was it like the cliche high school drama with the popular cheerleader?" Garrett finally spoke breaking the awkward silence

Tanya embarrassedly laughed and said "The cheerleader part would be me, Bella didn't even had to try. She was barely at school, people worshiped her" She joked.

"Worship is a big word" I interrupted her.

It felt awkward to speak about my high school experience, for some reason Alice hated it and wasn't stopping to bring it up. I didn't want to lay my laundry in front of people I've just met about high school. I learned from the past that people either hated high school and weren't making exceptions if you didn't feel the same, or loved it because they were, like in Tanya's case, with a title of popularity.

For me it was neither, don't get me wrong I had a blast, but for some reason never felt the need to label where I belonged, I might add that Tanya was the only person I cared about in that school and I cut a lot of classes, hang out with people from outside of the school, and let's say my parents were non stuck ups on the outfits department for some reason that made the _Badass cool girl._ A title I didn't understand but never turned down, made things easier …

The rest of the night went on, everyone focused back on Garrett who was getting hilariously drunk. I've noticed that Liam started getting closer and closer to Tanya, something that must've skipped her attention.

One by one everyone starting saying goodbye and I found myself with Edward, Tanya and Liam, who was still trying to be noticed. When I ordered one more drink Tanya gave me that look where she silently says a whole lecture, I ignored it and then she put her hand on my arm "Bella, we should go. I'm tired"

"You go, I'm having fun and it's early" I said taking another sip from my drink.

Liam then offered to walk her out and share a cab, so she doesn't go alone. Something I totally supported "Listen to the man, T"

Tanya finally gave up, sighed and agreed to Liam's proposal. He smiled and helped her put on her coat. Tanya gave me a kiss on the cheek and put her arm on Edward shoulder "Will you make sure she gets in a cab and gives the right address" He nodded.

I found myself alone with Edward and he looked delicious, his cheeks were a bit flushed from the alcohol, his green eyes had this intense look.

"So … You and Tanya that's awkward" I let out smiling at him

"It is not! We're cool"

"Are you just saying that to convince yourself or me that hooking up it's not wrong" I whispered the last part and took another sip. _Man, these cocktails weren't a joke_

"You think I wanna hook up with you?" He leaned on the sofa, his eyes still on mine

My eyes went to his lips and he slowly licked them, I smiled and got closer "I don't think so, I know so" Still whispering but my eyes fixed to his.

Edward took his eyes off mine and called the waiter to order more drinks, to which the waiter apologised saying that they were closing. I pouted and whined at the waiter and he politely smiled and said there was nothing he could do. I smiled shyly at Edward when the waiter left our table.

"You're still at Tanya's? May be we can take the same cab" He said once we were outside of the bar, he was still zipping his jacket.

I approached him, removed his hand and zipped him up. My hands stayed on his jacket and I looked up. He swallowed loudly, his eyes went back and forth from my eyes to my mouth. His hands stroked my arm until they reached my neck, he cupped my face and closed my eyes focusing on his touch. His breath was so close and liquorish, I felt his lips on my cheek and he made his way to the corner of my mouth and he pulled away.

My eyes opened and silently asked him why did he pulled away. He grinned at me, knowing exactly what he made me feel. My left hand went to the back of his neck and pulled him into me crushing my lips to his. The minute our lips locked I moaned, he responded to it by grabbing my hips and pulling me closer.

My face turned giving us more space to deepen the kiss and my hand went immediately to grab his hair, our tongues met and it tastes just like him. Delicious.

We broke the kiss, and I wished at that moment that oxygen wasn't essential. I met his eyes and smiled, he chuckled and gave me a peck on the lips.

"Better than I imagined" He said against my lips.

* * *

 _Let me know what you guys think, I know deep down this wasn't the best work so far ..._

 _The story has many plots coming after this_


	5. Note

Hey guys !

I did not abandon this story. I am in fact working non next chapters

But I have so much going on, a new job, a wedding ...

Hope you will bare with me. Next week tops !  
xoxo


	6. Chapter 5- Winter song

**Chapter 5:** Winter song - SB

 **Note:** First off all, if you're here. Thanks a million! I know I've missed my promised deadline by _SO_ much. As my previous announcement said I had a pretty hectic couple of weeks.

* * *

I raised my left hand a bit higher indicating to Jake in which direction the mirror should be put in. I looked around me and I had that familiar feeling I always have when I'm near the end. Bringing an empty space to life brings a smile to my face. Jake jumped out from the chair he was on and titled his head double checking my indications, which I rolled my eyes to.

Jared walked in the room and raised both his hands when he saw me

"Darling, it looks wonderful!" He hugged me

"You found a beautiful space, I just did what it was destined to be" I smiled

"Listen, we want you at the opening night, a way for us to repay for what you did"

"Jared, you signing a check for me is your way of repaying me" I laughed.

"Don't be silly, this is beyond of what Embry and I had in mind. I wanted to give him his dream and you helped made that happen, and we won't take no for an answer."

I smiled at him, and his wrinkled eyes nearly disappeared smiling back at me. We haven't spent so much together, I was more around Embry his newly husband who now was ready to open his restaurant. He was the one who pitched me the idea until I figured out what he wanted.

"Bring a date" He said before turning his heels.

I gathered my bag after finalising some small touches, I gave my last indications to the cleaning crew before heading to my car.

I sat behind the wheel, put my bags in the back seat after taking my pack of cigarettes. I lighted up and rolled down the window of my Jeep. I inhaled and sighed heavily I was excited for my project to be over, the weight on my shoulders slowly disappearing.

My eyes caught the file that was the seat next to me, Edward's contract, that I signed couple of days ago and procrastinated to bring back to my lawyer. I threw my half smoked cigarette out of the window and picked up the file, I took the paper from inside and glanced over his signature next to mine. I put it back on the seat and grabbed my phone scrolling the name on my contacts until I saw his, I hesitated to click on it.

The past days have been the most busiest I had in weeks. Eric had called me the past week to let me know that I can re move back in when I could, it took one afternoon to back up from Tanya and head home. It was unfurnished and smelled new, but it felt good to be home, a couch cannot beat the comfort of a double bed.

Needless to say that between, moving back home and finishing up the restaurant kept me entirely busy. I haven't talked to Tanya since the day I moved back, she wasn't around and thanked all the gods for it hoping she would never ask me how the rest of my night went. Edward and I on the other hand shared some flirty texts a every now and then. We tried to bring back the conversation every time sounding nonchalant.

We haven't seen each other since last week after sharing that kiss and saying our goodbyes in the taxi. Bringing him to Tanya's place was a ridiculous suicide mission and not appearing at Tanya's place would have put me in a place where I had to give explanations.

I put my phone next to the file on the seat and started my car knowing exactly my next destination.

—

The same guy as last time did not even looked at me twice and opened the door to the building, I decided this time to act like I belonged and avoid going to the information desk. With a determined look and walk I made my way to the elevators. I sighed from relief when the door closed behind me without the girls at the information reception looking at me.

At the wanted floor, I kept my confidence high and walked determinably to his office. I cursed under my breath when I saw Alice at her desk typing on her computer.

She looked up and and held her breath, then she put on the most fake smile and looked down at her screen, then her fake smile turned into a real one before she spoke

"You don't have an appointment" She stated

"No, but can you just let him know I have something for him" I shook the file in front of her eyes.

She didn't even bother looked at it, keeping her eyes locked into mine

"You cannot be here, without a confirmed appointment"

I raised my eyebrows "I won't be a bother if he's busy, I won't take long"

"Miss" I huffed "Don't make me call security, I cannot let you in without an appointment"

"Alright Alice, I know for some reason i'm not your favourite person, but don't you think this is a bit extreme?" I leaned into her desk

In response she picked up the phone, her eyes still on mine "I have plenty of reasons. Now i'm gonna ask you to leave" She spoke a bit louder than she did before.

I couldn't believe my eyes, her hand was still on the phone. I decided that it was pointless to make a scene, and as I took one step back the door behind her opened and Edward appeared with a frowned look, he then looked up and met my eyes and his eyes grew.

"What's going on here?" He spoke roughly

"She just showed up, and refuses to leave even though I stated clearly that you were busy and without an appointment I cannot help her"

I opened my mouth to call on her bullshit but was cut off by Edward

"It's okay. I can make time" He looked at me "Come on in"

A proud smile appeared on my face, I looked at Alice, who was red and near explosion, and entered the office. I heard the door closes behind him.

"I'm sorry about that" He started "Although Alice isn't wrong, but I can imagine she wasn't the nicest to you"

"Don't worry about it, I'm sorry I just showed up like this" I smiled

"it's nice to see you"

I smiled. He was so close, and he smelled so good. I shivered remembering the last time I saw him, how much closer we were.

"So is this reason you came all the way to Manhattan" He said pointing at the file in my hand.

I looked down at my hands and smiled before handing it to him "Among other things" I winked

He raised one eyebrow before taking it "Do tell"

"The restaurant i've worked on is opening this Friday, I have a plus one invitation, I was hoping you would you like to come with me?"

He smirked at me putting his hands in his pants pockets then nodded.

His office phone rang and interrupted the starting contest we were having. I sighed and turned to face the window.

"Yes Alice?" He said picking up the phone

"Thank you, I will be there" He glanced at me, I met his eyes and smiled letting him know that I understood he wasn't available anymore

I left his office, after giving him a kiss on the cheek, his hands squeezed my lower back and made me smile. After I close his office door, I was face to face with Alice. She rolled her eyes at me and turned her chair. I fought the urge to flip her and walked away without a word.

—

The next days passed on smoothly, without the restaurant, I found myself enjoying my quiet apartment. I've stayed into my PJs for two straight days, ordering out and binging on Netflix.

On Friday I've decide to let my stomach feel anything put greasy cheesy food, and decided to cook whatever comes near my hand. In the middle of chopping my onions my phone buzzed. I cleaned my hands and smiled thinking it must have been Edward.

My smile faded and then appeared again when I saw Jasper's name on my phone

 _Taking a break because it's a necessity. I hope your Patty this year will survive. See ya like always?_

Confused I looked at my calendar and then fully understood his message. I saw that the day was the 17th and I smiled, St Patrick's day was mine and Jasper's favourite day. Ever since our freshman year of college we've built up our own traditions with Jasper and our college friends. Not that I needed an excuse for partying and getting drunk but today I did with no judgment from the rest of the world.

 _I couldn't wish for a better day!_

I continued with my lunch and let my mind went over planning the rest of my day. Edward was going to meet me at Embry and Jared's restaurant and 7:30pm and my night with Jasper always starts later, so I could fit in both plans.

I moved my entire closet to my bed, until I found what I was looking for, a green dress. I smirked thinking this was the first time I'm mixing a dress up night with a messy one like St patrick's day. If I needed more convincing, putting it on would have served as such, I looked dam good. I bought this dress a couple of years ago, and the curves I gained growing up made the dress look nicer.

A couple of blocks later I saw him leaning against the wall, typing on his cellphone. When my heels made enough noise he looked up and it was exactly what I hoped for. His eyes widened and his mouth opened and closed like a fish.

"Wow.." He stood up straight "Bella, you look … Gorgeous"

I put my hair behind my right ear and blushed, I leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek and he pressed himself giving me half a hug.

I took a step back "Ready?"

He looked down at my dress and let out a "Jesus" before nodding. I smiled at him and it grew when I faced away from him.

When we went inside Jared welcomed us and openly congratulated me for finding a fine date. Edward blushed which caused Jared to tease him a bit more until Embry stepped in. They thanked me again for the work, and I looked around with pride.

"Bella, this place looks amazing" Edward said once we entered the main room.

"You sound surprised for a guy who hired me"

He chuckled "Not surprised, just impressed"

We mingled and sipped champagne. The ladies looked at Edward with a lustful look and then looked me up and down, men lost theirs in my cleavage and I noticed Edward shifting on my side every single time it happened.

We spend the first hour stealing glances from each other, and slowly became more comfortable. His hands lasted longer on my lower back, and sometimes his fingers will scratch and give me some squeezes. I felt confident more and more and pushed my body against his, slightly on his right side, I would let my hand on his chest while speaking closely to him.

The tension between was palpable, and I loved it.

"They seem nice" Edward smiled looking at Embry and Jared holding hands and greeted more people.

"They're alright" I smiled at him

"So was this what you've always wanted to do?" showing the place with his hands

"Close. Well I picked a major wanting to pursue Architecture school, life tested me, this was the closest thing to it but I can't say I'm complaining" I forced a smile and I took another sip of my flute "And you? The big corporate firm was always in your agenda?"

He frowned a bit but asked no further questions "I don't know about the corporate firms and all, but I always wanted to be in business. I've had a fortunate run, so I'm grateful for that"

A cough brought our attenuation to the center of the restaurant, where Embry was speaking in the mic thanking everyone for coming. People applauded louder when he wished we liked the food. He blushed and smiled, and then thanked his husband who was tearing up around the corner.

Shortly after that some of the people started leaving. I looked at Edward and he smiled shyly at me "Can I buy you a drink somewhere else?" He asked me

I looked down at my phone to check the hour, and cursed quietly. It was already late and soon I had to meet Jasper.

"I understand if you can't…" He said looking at me, his eyes looking for an answer still.

"I had this thing planned, I'm not sure you will enjoy it" I thought about Emmett's bar and all the previous St patrick's we celebrated, and looked back at Edward in his expensive suit and watch trying to find a single link. Jasper and I liked to keep things simple, and it was no secret that Edward liked more the fancy scenes

"That's fine. Don't feel bad, this was fun, I liked being here with you" He caressed my cheek with his thumb.

I couldn't help but smile.

"I had fun too" He returned my smile "How about you come over tomorrow I can cook dinner and make it up for you"

Without a hesitation Edward agreed.

—

The bar was like every year, packed and green decoration everywhere. I glanced over the bar and saw Emmett with a ridiculous big St Patrick's hat and green sun glasses.

Emmett took his glasses off when he saw me and walked out of the bar, his arms were open to give me a hug all the way to us, in the meantime I took my coat off and he dropped his arms

"Damn Bee, you looking good!" He grinned

I elbowed him and gave him a hug.

"First round on me, what's on your mind?"

"The patty special of course" said a voice that made turn right away

I was facing Jasper, he adjusted his green hat and grinned at me. He took another step and I jumped on him making him stumble a bit, he hugged me back. And kissed my cheek "I missed you"

He put me down, I adjusted my dress "I missed you too"

Emmett in the meantime was putting the whiskey shots in front of us. I rubbed my hands together looking at Jasper

putting them in order.

Soon after we had our traditional Irish beer, Rose walked in the bar. I waved at her to direct her to us and she smiled, s tall blonde guy following her. She gave me a kiss on the cheek, nodded at Jasper and ignored Emmett. She introduced Michael to us, we shook his hands except for Emmett who went on to the other of the bar.

I looked at Jasper who raised his eyebrows at me. _Drama._

I turned to Michael trying to make him feel comfortable, since Rose seemed to be ignoring him, and took advantage to explain to him the game we played.

"We usually take a major milestone and drink as much. For example we will each drink one shot because it's our first St Patrick's day together. The milestone are by order and to whomever you choose to drink with, you get it?"

He nodded.

"To the 7th St Patty together" I heard Jasper's voice and turned to see my 7 seven shots in front of me.

I smiled at him, winked and raised the first shot glass challenging him. Jasper wiggled his eyebrows, and his glass met mine.

After we dropped the seventh shot glass on the counter, Jasper gave me a kiss on the forehead.

Rose rolled her eyes at the gesture and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"So you're trying to make Emmett jealous" pointing at Michael who was too focused reading his beer bottle label.

She shrugged "You think he is?"

We looked at Emmett, and we notice his eyes quickly looking away. Rose tried to hid a proud smile and I shook my head.

"Anyways, what's up with your fancy slutty outfit"

I gasped and dramatically put a hand on my heart followed by a smirk "Thank you, if you must know I came from a date"

"Your geeky high school mate?" She frowned

"Quit the judgment" I pointed my finger at her

"Quit the stupidity! You're really craving for a guy this much?"

This time I gasped for real "What's your problem? We like each other. There's nothing wrong about it"

"Does your BFF Tanya feel the same?"

"Tanya doesn't care" I lied. Or assumed…

Rose eyed me for some seconds and then took two shot glasses from the pile and handed me one "To friendship"

Without an answer I downed it.

The rest of the night went on a bit similar to our similar St Patrick's day, Jasper and I kept on milestones challenging each other, his cheek gained colour and his eyes got smaller, so I knew he was at the same level as mine but kept a cocky grin on his face every time he put a shot glass in front of me. Rose tried to pay attention to her so call date, while Emmett kept glancing every once in a while at them.

I was glad to see that things with Jasper were as I joked with no awkwardness. We even got to laugh when we drank to one kiss shared.

At a certain moment of the night, Michael finally gave up and told Rose that he was heading out. Surprised and frustrated Rose said she will go as well, dedicated to make Emmett believe she was really going with that guy.

The second their bodies weren't in our sight anymore, Emmett came to mine and Jasper's side to ask about him, to which both me and Jasper shrugged to.

"You think I should ask her out again?" Emmett said still eying the door like she was magically coming back.

"Don't do that to her again just because you think you're jealous now" Jasper said

 _Say what now?_

My head snapped and i looked to both of them with a shocked face.

"Don't do what? What does that mean?" Still moving my head trying to look at them in the eyes at the same time.

"You don't know that this douche finally slept with her and ignored her?" Jasper arched an eyebrow

Emmet grimaced when he saw how big my eyes grew at the brand new info.

I was getting mad and Emmett for doing that to Rose, but felt hurt that she didn't trust me enough for this. I always knew that Emmett hit on her but she never gave in.

"When was this?" I asked directly to Emmett

"A night you guys were all hanging out here, a couple of days after New Years"

 _Two freaking months?_

Someone called for Emmett's attention, and he turned after giving me a apologetic look. Jasper put his hand on shoulder squeezing it

"Hey! It's probably hard on her, don't blame her"

I narrowed my eyes at him, furious that he was actually right. I can't be mad at Rose for not wanting to share, did it hurt? Yes. But it was mostly because I felt like she didn't consider me as much of a friend as I did with her, in my own definition anyways.

Come to think of it, Rose never overshared when it came to her past relationships, but we did talk about sex. A lot. Which made it even weirder that her Emmett night didn't come up.

Jasper might have seen how confused I looked, and I probably zoned out for a while that he proposed to take me home. I threw a couple of bills on the counter to cover the drinks, and took my coat back. I saw Jasper waving at Emmett from the corner of my eyes, but I was still pretty confused so I decided to just walk away.

I felt bad ruined the night, nothing major has happened but with the level of alcohol we consumed this fit in the dramatic moment of the night. Which I reacted to triple more dramatically that I would do if sober, Jasper understood so he let me drunkenly complain all the way to my apartment.

"I feel so much like a fool!" I threw my arms in the air

"I wouldn't judge her, she judges me all the time with this whole Edward thing" I continued while Jasper kept on trying to get to the sidewalk

"You would trust me with something like this wouldn't you?" I suddenly stopped in the middle of the road and then shook my head looking away "You didn't trust me with that bomb of last week! What is it with me? Am I putting some kind of weird vibe?"

Angry tears started to show. Angry at Rose. Angry at Emmett. Angry at Jasper. And now angry at myself for being so drunk that I couldn't hold my emotions

"Woah …woah" Jasper jumped in front of me took my arms, and forced me to look at him "This has nothing to do with you B. Rose probably had her reasons, that may be one day you guys can talk about it. And I would never hide anything big from you, if I need help, support or any kind of presence you're my girl. You're just upset, we're good!"

His eyes were still searching for mine hoping to convince me "And as for Edward, don't listen to Rose. Don't listen to anyone, you know what you're doing, right?"

I shrugged.

"All I know is that I am acting out of impulse attraction" I whispered

"Who says there is need for more? And since Bella Swan needs a freaking romance?" He smiled

When I didn't respond he brought me closer and gave me a hug. I put my arms around his body and closed my eyes.

At that moment I made a small promise to myself to never touch whisky again. _An instant fake promise._

And then my brain send me a reminder about my dinner tomorrow and that immediately brought a smile to my face. Jasper was right.

* * *

 _About this chapter, the focus is away from E/B for a reason..._ _I wanted to focus on her entourage to give you more info!_

 _I also wanted to point that all relationships are inspired from mine of my entourages. Wanted to keep it real._


	7. Chapter 6 - Call you home

**Disclaimer:** SM got it all.

 **Chapter 6:** Call you home

 **Warning:** This chapter has adult content!

* * *

"Hang on, Mom" I shouted in vain trying to activate the mic on computer "Can you hear me now?" I adjusted the screen so my camera straight focused on me.

I saw her nodding on the camera, sitting down indian style, eyes closed in the middle of a meditation.

"I don't even know why we bother video calling if you keep your eyes closed all the time" I said while getting back to my dinner preparation.

My mom opened one eye to look at me, and then did a salute move ending her meditation I presumed since her face got closer to the screen.

"Why is your hair wet?"

"It's called taking a shower" I smiled at her

"Smart mouth. So how was your Patty's day? Did you meet up with Jasper?"

I sighed and put the knife down. I passed one hand on over my eyes.

"It was ok. I guess not every year has to be remarkable" I shrugged.

"Oh baby girl! Talk to me" She put her hands together her eyes fixing my image on her screen, I smiled and waved signing that it was nothing

"How's dad?" I asked changing the subject. I knew my mom would go all _shrinky_ on me, seeing deeper into my emotional drunken state that it was.

"Fishing trip" She shrugged

"Why didn't you tell me you were alone? You could have came and stayed here with me."

"You know that city makes me anxious. Plus some alone time is good from time to time" She winked at me.

I shook my head smiling at her "Well, listen Ma, I gotta go. I cannot multi task and this ratatouille ain't cooking itself."

"Alright, alright. Are you driving up here soon?"

"Probably? Don't know. I'll see"

"See if Tanya wants to keep you company. Her parents are in some sort of conference, so it's a green light. I love you baby girl" She waved goodbye

"Love you too, Ma"

I closed down the screen and went back to my vegetables cutting. As much as I loved cooking, I always felt a bit insecure cooking for someone for the first time. And when it's for a date I would always ask myself which food is considered as a sexy food?

I glanced at the watch and made a quick math to realise that I had less than an hour before Edward shows up at my door. I then went into full speed mode, giving up my perfectly shaped vegetable image and focused on just getting it done.

At 8:00 sharp I heard a soft knock on my door. I wondered if he actually waited a couple of minutes until it was the right time before knocking. I glanced around my living room one more time checking if everything was ok.

I opened my front door and faced an entire different Edward. Expect the time at Tanya's place every time I saw him he was rocking the shit out of a suit, but that night he was wearing a pair of jeans and a white simple sweater and traded his lenses for glasses. _Fuck me!_

I opened the door wider inviting him in, he took two steps inside never leaving my eyes and handed me the bottle of wine that was in his hands.

"I didn't know which one you liked so I went with the classic red wine" He smiled

"I like wine. Red is perfect" I returned his smile "Well I will give you a tour but I'm free lancer in New York city. This is pretty much it" I opened my arm showing the space in front of us.

He smiled at me "I like it, it suits you"

I carefully put the bottle on my coffee table after inviting Edward to get conformable. I went to the kitchen and grabbed two glasses of wine.

Back in the living room, I sat next to Edward on my couch, while he grabbed the wine bottle and opened it, poured wines into both our glasses.

"Wow!" was the first thing I said after taking one sip of it.

"It's a Russian River Valley Pinot Noir from 2014"

I arched an eyebrow "A wine connoisseur?"

He turned red at my comment and laughed a little "I actually went and googled ' _Best wine for a date'"_

I joined his laugh and put my hand on his "Thank you. I think it's very sweet"

His eyes looked at our hands and then went up to my face. He gave me a beautiful smile.

The timer went off alarming that the food was ready.

Edward helped setting the table, while I served the ratatouille. As usual after the first time someone eats my food, I get the moan and the _'wow'_ stuff I never fail to blushed to.

A bottle of wine, two refills and a half and a the most easy conversation, dinner was over. I was impressed how the conversation just comes in and there was never a blank awkward moment that needed to a restart.

We cleaned up the table and moved to our initial spot.

"So tell me what happened to Edward Cullen after graduation" I asked masking the curiosity of when and how the sudden change.

For the past weeks after bumping into Edward, I've tried to dig deep in my memories about Edward, and somehow the only memories I have were from the lab. Period.

"Well right after it I flew to California to Berkley for summer school been there for 2 years before I took my bachelor" He took a sip of wine before continuing and paused when saw my confused look "I graduated early, with summer schools and extra credits"

I nodded rethinking of my summers looking like a jersey shore episode.

"I had a plan since my early teen years and I knew what sacrifices I had to make to achieve it. At 21 I went to France and did my Masters equivalent to a business grad here in the US. Did a couple of internship and moved back right after graduation"

"For real? France?"

He nodded and hid a smile.

"God. I'm so jealous" I sighed.

The academic parkour was surely very impressive but nothing I see myself doing. I never had that ambitious about school, turning out like my artistic mom I found Edward even more incredible for his focus and dedication. But a study abroad sounded magical, I never thought about doing it myself since I knew it was financially out of my league but it always sounded like it only happened in the movies or to people far from my entourage.

He smiled and blushed a bit "Bella Swan jealous of me? That would have knocked me out of my feet 10 years ago"

I rolled my eyes playfully.

"It's true. You probably don't even know this since we never hang out but I had the hugest crush on you." He said licking his lips.

I cocked my head to the side and smiled at him "You did? I thought you couldn't stand me. You were the only person who never took the conversation further, expect when it concerned the damn frogs"

"That was because I was so nervous being next to you" He laughed

"Is it better now?" I asked sitting a bit closer to him

"I would be lying if I said you don't intimidate me anymore"

My heart made a small jump and exploded internally. _How is this making me hot?_

"I have an idea. Something that will take the nervousness away" I jumped on my feet and grabbed the pipe that was on the shelf.

I turned to Edward and shook it my hands smiling. His eyes grew "You still do that?"

"What do you mean still?" I put my hands on my hips.

"There was a word going on that you didn't only smoke cigarette back in high school" He confessed.

"People knew about that?" I laughed "I guess I wasn't as smart as I thought"

"I have never done that" He pointed at the pipe

"Oh don't worry, it works as a joint and tastes better" I took my previous place on the couch

"I meant the pot" He nearly whispered.

I looked at him and saw that his eyes were avoiding mine like that made him less cool in my eyes. And I hated myself to make him feel that way. I put my hand on his knee and smiled at him

"I'm honoured to be your first" I smiled smugly "Plus there is nothing like fucking after smoking" I winked

He took a second to realise that he heard me correctly.

Edward was nearly laying horizontally on my couch, his glasses were on the coffee table and he was fixing on the ceiling with a grin with made me giggle a lot.

And every time I giggle, he would look at me confused and then starts to laugh.

It was so much different to get high with him. The fact that it was his first time made me feel like it was mine as well. I kept watching him going from nervous to ultra relaxed.

His eyes were a bit sleepier and pinkish. His cheeks had this adorable blush. His hands were tracing imaginary drawings on my knee.

He turned his head facing me, his hand squeezed my knee and he sighed "You are so gorgeous"

And there it was again, that tension. His eyes looked down and fixed my lips for a couple of seconds before looking into my eyes again. I swallowed and and got up a bit.

I removed his hand from my knee and straddled him.

The green of his eyes was clearer, his palms were warm and sweaty when he put them on my thighs. My hands went to his hair, and nearly moaned at the contact, it was so soft. My right hand rested on the back of his neck and our mouths met for the second time.

I felt the tip of his tongue on my lip and immediately parted my lips allowing my tongue to meet his. At that contact Edward's hand came to the curve of my ass and he pulled me with force so that our chests were against each other.

My hands went on their own adventure in his hair, grabbing and pulling. We broke the kiss to catch breath but Edward didn't stop there, his hands were tracing my body and went under my shirt. I shivered when his hands made contact with my naked skin.

When he finally reached my bra he grabbed me and changed our positions so he was on top. One of his hand rested on arm chair behind my head while the other one kept on caressing my skin under my shirt, his eyes never leaving mine. I lifted my head and kissed him, he responded passionately.

I shifted under him and once I had enough space I grabbed the hem of my shirt, took it off and threw it on the floor. With his one hand he was tracing the border of my bra, his eyes went down to my chest and my breathing accelerated. I reached up for his shirt and it followed the same path as mine.

His lips left kisses on my jaw, my neck, my collarbone it was until he kissed my left breast that I realised that his hands had already unhooked my bra. I managed to get it off and tossed it on the floor next to our shirts under his mesmerising stare.

I put my hands on each side of his face and brought him closer, we moaned respectively the minute our mouths touched, and his chest made contact with my nipple that I'm sure he felt hardened at his touch. My hands left his face and rested on his bare back and I pushed on it for more. More of Edward.

And then I felt him. _There._ I broke the kiss and let a loud moan, Edward groaned and his lips went to my breast, he licked and sucked on my nipples and my hands fought the button of his jeans.

He left my breasts and kept a trail of kisses until he got to the waistband of my jeans. He unbuttoned them and slide the zipper down, he left a kiss and then bit the skin under my bellybutton.

Edward looked up at me when he finally got rid of my jeans and panties "And I thought you looked beautiful before" He whispered eying my body from face to toes.

He went back up and put his weight on his elbow leaving enough space for his other hand to discover my body. Soon enough his fingers found my aching part

"Fuck…You're so wet" He grunted in my neck when his index made the first contact.

I closed my eyes and rocked my hips asking more of him, and more of his touches "Oh…" was the only sound that managed to get out of my mouth when two of his fingers thirsted inside of me.

Before I had the chance to enjoy it, Edward removed his finger and pulled my arms helping me to a sitting position, I frowned and he gave me a peck on the lips, opened my legs and kneeled in between

 _Sweet baby Jesus…What's hotter than a man going down on you without a request?_

I gave him a smile and fought the urge to close my eyes not wanting to miss a second of the fabulous show in front of me. My chest went up and down from my heavy breathing, which allowed me to see more of Edward every time I breath out. His eyes were still locked to mine when he stuck out his tongue and gave one lick.

He lifted my left leg and put it on his shoulder, he put his fingers back inside of me and put his mouth on my clit.

I let out a "Yes…" every time he gently bit on it, after circling his tongue around it not once stopping to pump his fingers inside.

When I felt that heat growing I knew I was close. Very close. My hand pulled on Edward's hair and that drove his fingers harder and deeper.

"Fuck" I cried as I came.

My breathing was so fast when he came up and brought his face to mine. I tasted my self on his tongue and lips and moaned, he squeezed my butt cheeks when he heard me.

"I need to fell you" He whispered on my lips.

He stood up and lifted me with him, I crossed my legs around his waist and pointed to the bedroom behind me. With hesitant steps and kisses, Edward finally found the bedroom.

He threw me on the bed and went on taking his pants off his gaze locked to mine. I bit my lip and brought my hands to my nipple as I let myself enjoy the show.

When his boxers were on the floor, my mouth fell open. _Good job, big guy!_

I took his hand and pulled him into the bed, we shared one long kiss, before he positioned himself between my legs. With a clumsy hand I opened the drawer on my night stand and Edward understood what I was doing. He got the condom out and slide it in.

 _This was it_

I squeezed my legs around him and pushed him down a bit, he gave me a smile which slowly faded as he entered me. His forehead rested on my shoulder as we both breathed fast and hard. I moved my hips meeting his, feeling him stretching me, filling me…

He bend my knees and put them over his chest, giving us a new angle, a deeper one. I screamed and moaned

"Oh god…Yes"

"Yeah?" He asked panting.

His hips rocked harder and faster each thrust. There was so much I wanted to say but my mouth let out moans and screams instead.

"You feel better that I imagined… God you feel so good" He moaned

Words couldn't describe how full he made me feel or how deep he went, and how fucking ecstatic that was, so I did what my mouth couldn't express, and moved my hips and pinched my nipples looking at his eyes getting darker. He murmured some more words, I knew he was getting close with me, his hips were slamming into me hard creating a beautiful sound each time.

"Yes…Yes" I chanted as I had the familiar feeling building once again

"That's right, baby…" he gasped thrusting one more time, his head falling behind.

His weight on my chest was impressive but didn't make me uncomfortable, his breathing slowed down as my hand stocked his wet hair from his forehead.

"Edward?" I whispered

He hummed in response "You need to take it off before you fall asleep" I moved my hips gesturing that he needed to get out and get the condom out before it slips.

"Sorry" He mumbled and stood up. He slide it off and took a tissue from night stand, he looked back at me and smiled.

I moved over leaving him space to fit in my bed. We got under the blanket, facing each other he tucked my hair behind my ear and watched me until his sleepy eyes start giving in closing slowly.

* * *

 _Well...Hope that was your cup of tea._


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